The Smallest (and perhaps first) Harris-Corliss Engine.

My oldest living mentor Dick Everett of East Haddam Connecticut explains the history of this beautiful Harris Corliss engine I just bought from him.
The WIlliam A. Harris steam engine company begun in the 1860s and for a short time made single slide valve engines before obtaining licenses for George H Corliss's patents for the Corliss four-valve gear and releasing mechanisms. This machine was built at the Harris works and may be the first ever Corliss engine to leave their works as a prototype model. It will run on steam.

[@paulrayner4514]

that old timer aught to get his memoirs down on tape, before they are lost forever. thanks for sharing

[@beniaminrichter6831]

Amen. Snapshots of a world long gone.

[@AEKarnes]

It isn't gone so long as it lives inside people like me and is built again.

[@InfamousSoap]

@@AEKarnesAmen to that, we need to keep these things alive forever. I am a 15 year old and I have always had a big passion with how things work, like nuclear energy and all sorts of stuff like that but steam engines I absolutely love, I recently got my first model steam engine to so I am so happy to finally get one.

[@thatguy.mp7950]

A wonderful find, the engine is cool too :)

[@beefchicken]

In 2001, I got a tour of a “Strowger” style central office, which used a technology that dated back to the 1890s to automatically switch telephone calls. This particular office had probably been built starting in the 30s, and was shut down in the 80s. The place was a museum. The room was full of 11 foot tall equipment racks, packed with electromechanical switches full of relays, contacts and a cast iron switching mechanisms. Probably 10,000 square feet of the stuff. I would periodically ask my contact about the equipment, if they were ready to get rid of it. The answer was always “nope, too much liability”. Then one day his answer came back “sorry it’s all gone.”

[@Dancing_Alone_wRentals]

Oh sadness. I know a couple people who give those kind of answers, simply void of understanding what history is lost; they just reach for their next coffee and turn on the TV.

[@caraiya]

Oh, that really is unfortunate. I've wanted to see one (and the XY system,) but have only seen photos. Except once, I saw a switch in an antique shop. I wanted to purchase it, but I was broke. The owner said that I was the first to ever ask about it. I swore that I would go back, but unfortunately the owner died not lone after and his family just tossed everything out, apparently. My heart also breaks for the brass fire extinguishers. I managed to get a stainless steel one from the '50s, I've turned it into a small side table, but used pipe bracing so that the extinguisher's cap remains intact and the tabletop can be removed without damage to the extinguisher. Anyway, all that is to say that I wish that that Stowger System could have been recovered...and that I had a chance to see it, of course.

[@Frisco1355]

This is the sound of gaining wonderful knowledge.

[@Dancing_Alone_wRentals]

Very well said,. Happy New Year Frisco and all!

[@button-puncher]

"It will run on steam." Awesome. Thanks again for sharing a bit of history. And preserving it for others to see.

[@Swamp-Fox]

Great you are able to document both man and machine!

[@impledob69]

That's incredible! I feel like if the hoist in the old Cerro Gordo mine shaft failed you'd be the guy to fix it Karnes

[@RedDogForge]

Alex found you via the steam engine restoration water pump vid, led me to your KZbin. Thank you for sharing your amazing friend with us! My family worked for Vickers in Barrow in furness uk with boiler manufacturing, then grandad camer gere and became s tool and die maker at Carrier in Syracuse NY. Sadly most of those jobs closed in the eighties and 90s. I became a blacksmith. Your work is absolutely fascinating. And again thank you for introducing us to Richard :)

[@AEKarnes]

It's very good to meet you and thank you for appreciating my work, Im assuming your family build the big formidable Lancashire boilers I love so much.

[@RedDogForge]

@@AEKarnes sadly other than what they did informations scarce and Vickers was bought out so I doubt records survived.

[@delta-7operativeAK]

What's that thumbnail? It looks like a fever dream.

[@stevenaegele5228]

What a beauty!

[@CSkwirl]

I wish I lived there with what you are doing. I'd just sleep under the table somewhere and fix things and help with the engines and history when I came out ❤

[@aceman1126]

I mean if you're OK being homeless you can technically live wherever the hell you want

[@BIBSTERSrepairshop]

Great video thanks for sharing

[@wesbrackmanthercenthusiast4695]

Wow your friend looks like a very knowledgeable individual i wish i could have his knowledge

[@jrkorman]

Love to see that engine under steam and working.

[@bubbacomputer]

Really enjoy hearing the history!!

[@Dancing_Alone_wRentals]

I agree, best part. You just pause and pay close attention.

[@Rainhill1829]

This is superb, amazing man and amazing engine!

[@Midtown95060]

That was awesome

[@AEKarnes]

I can be there any time during plant operating hours

[@lesterbowman9558]

beautiful and intriguing engine and you're very lucky to have gotten it. I love its unmolested original condition. Well done my friend !

[@rhavrane]

Bonjour Alexander, Bonne Année ! I wish your family and you all the best and of course a lot of steam adventures ! Amicalement, Raphaël

[@number6705]

Another mini classic - make more!

[@oldmandoingstuff8997]

Encourage Him to video His History of knowledge.

[@manfredatee]

Looks like a great little engine.

[@matkremzar5474]

happy new year ! thanks

[@burlatsdemontaigne6147]

Very cool Mr Karnes.

[@Dancing_Alone_wRentals]

Very enjoyable video. Most cool and many tHanks. Happy New Year to all!

[@steamenginepavelbuchta]

Alex perfekt video …..thanks

[@caraiya]

It's really too bad that the Smithsonian didn't take more than one colum. Granted, cast iron columns are massive, but all the same, they could have taken more than one. I imagine that someone on the team was very unhappy about that... What's a real shame is that The National Building Museum couldn't get their hands on them. They don't have as much in terms of resources as the Smithsonian, and may not have been formed yet if the dismantling happened before 1980, which I believe it did? Either way, the other sad part is that they took one, but I don't recall it ever being on display. If it was, it was very early on, and may be sitting in one of their warehouses. 😢

[@AEKarnes]

Unfortunately the Smithsonian has proven to be a deathground for all it vacuums up. I have a lot of stories about the place, none of them good.

[@caraiya]

@@AEKarnes Yeah. There are so many artifacts that the general public never sees. And unfortunately it's a matter of "out of site, out of mind." Items on display or likely to be on display may be better maintained, but everything else just languishes...improperly stored and maintained. Forgotten.

[@caraiya]

Sight* darn autocorrect.

[@sven-erikviira1872]

Are ball governors fail-safe? If the belt fails does the governor regulate the speed to minimum/stopped?

[@AEKarnes]

by themselves no they are not, if they stop rotating they go to maximum power. So you design into the linkage that if they go beyond a certain low speed, the engine timing is set to 0 percent admission to stop the engine, and in this case you have the hold the governor on a starting block above this safety position when starting the engine. An idler pulley on a pendulum arm that drops if the belt snaps to trip the admission is another way, but the best engines did not have belts at all, the governors were shaft and gear driven

[@csdestonia6984]

Just curious - is it ever made a steam locomotive with corliss valve gear?

[@scrotiemcboogerballs1981]

Great video thanks for sharing